


The Jared Interlude

by GayChaton



Series: Emails to Lie In [3]
Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: (i guess), Anxiety Disorder, Apologies, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Jared Being an Asshole, M/M, Minor pining, Social Anxiety, he's working on it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 12:53:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11104971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GayChaton/pseuds/GayChaton
Summary: Apologies have never been more awkward!(Part of a series, but can be read as a standalone if read in the context of a Fix-It Fic after Good For You)





	The Jared Interlude

_Study hall was really a blessing to everyone in school,_  Jared thought. _Of course, blessing were bullshit and God is dead, but it study hall is a holy thing._

It was a blessing because every Wednesday afternoon, all of the school time after lunch was a civil free-for-all. Every teacher opened their classroom doors, and kids could go to any class they liked and study, work on projects, learn, finish homework, and in a few classrooms, talk. The only exception was the kids who took AP Literature but those kids were already busting their asses on homework anyway so it wasn't much of a difference.

Jared usually spent the time finishing any homework he had for the two AP classes he took, and when he didn't feel like it, he went to the photography teacher's class and took a nap. Had he ever taken Photography? No. But that sure didn't stop him. Unfortunately, when he stepped into the classroom, Evan Hansen was sitting at the only empty table in the room.

 _Great_.

He scanned the rest of the classroom, looking for anyone else who it would be socially acceptable to interrupt. He found nobody, but by the time he finished scanning, Evan was looking up.

Actually Evan was standing up, and moving his way.

"Fantastic, this is _the_  ideal scenario," Jared mumbled to himself.

"Jared," Evan said, pausing in front of him. He raised his hands a few times as if to make hand gestures, but moved them back to his side. "Can I talk to you? Please?"

"Oh," Jared feigned surprise. "We're asking permission now? Is that the thing we're doing?"

"Jared," Evan repeated.

Jared dropped his backpack on the floor and pushed it under a desk. "Fine."

Evan walked out of the room and waited for Jared to follow, which he begrudgingly did.

Jared wondered where Evan would take him to have a more private conversation. He wondered if it would end with Evan firing him from The Connor Project. Despite himself, he followed Evan up the stairs to the second floor of the school building and into… "The supply closet?" Jared asked, eyeing the slightly cramped room.

"Yeah uh, nobody else is here on Wednesdays because they all go to the art rooms for supplies anyway," Evan shrugged. "So, come in?"

He wanted to make some off topic comment about how it was the ideal spot for a murder, but they hadn't even talked after the fight, and Jared internally still wanted to avoid that confrontation. Instead, Jared shrugged and entered the room, leaning back on one of the metal shelving units. "Fire away."

"Are you sure you don't want to uh, like say your piece? Because I'm sure you're like, angry of course, so if you want to uh, yell at me you could—"

"Just say what you came to say, Evan," Jared sighed.

"Oh," Evan said. "… Uh, alright."

Jared squinted and waited.

"It's just. Okay," he said, and took a deep breath. "So that platonic break up that I kinda forced the other day was really uncalled for and kind of rude? I think. And like, even though I had some strong points that I think we should still bear in mind, uh, going forward, I do think that uh, it was really not nice and kind of just _mean_  also as well."

Jared blinked. "Uh…"

"And let's be honest I'm just not a great person either? Because those are the things I think sometimes and on the inside I think really really rude things about some people, like you sometimes, and that's just, even more rude that I don't say it out loud. But I did this time! And it probably really hurt your feelings and everything, considering my argument was that you cared about me but not enough, I guess?"

"Evan—"

"I know!" Evan exclaimed, throwing his hands up and smiling manically. "Cause I'm just so _awful_  and nobody should have to deal with me, but you always did, Jared, you _always_ did and I just never meant to get in your way and I turned a blind eye and everything, right?!"

"Asshole, listen," Jared interrupted, standing up. Evan froze immediately, and Jared took it as a cue to get a word in of his own thoughts. "Let's just get down to the nitty gritty and save us both some pain and time, okay? Are ya' sorry?"

Evan looked at Jared like a kicked puppy. "Yes."

"And you know what for?"

"Yeah, for accusing you of not caring because I freaked out over the idea that you actually needed me around too."

Jared twitched a bit. It was still a raw wound, and it didn't help to hear it aloud. He instead ignored it. "And what are you going to do to change that now?"

Evan looked down at his hands briefly. "I'm going to stop making every interaction we have about The Connor Project. I've been obsessed, I know, but now I'm refocused, I promise."

"There you go," Jared said, throwing one hand up. "All three bases of apologies covered. Your obligation is fulfilled, the apology is unceremoniously accepted."

Evan stopped in his tracks again. "You. You think I'm doing this just because I'm guilty."

"Well, isn't that half of why you do anything?" Jared asked with a shrug. "You do half your essays just because you feel bad that your classmates have a hard time with them."

"No it's not that, please believe me. I was being stupid and you had every right to storm out and not want to work with me again but you didn't," Evan said quickly, words blended together.

"Connor was the turning point in that one, really," Jared frowned. "So what?"

"So. Hm," Evan said, pausing. He looked down at the floor and flexed his fingers. "So I want to know if we're good."

Part of Jared wanted to give the flippant, snarky, and half-assuring-half-worrying answer of 'sure thing, boss', but looking at Evan so freaked out bothered him. Mostly because Evan Hansen did not freak out this way. Evan Hansen broke down into shattered sentences and mumbles, and sometimes hyperventilated before going nonverbal. Evan Hansen did _not_  make coherent (albeit clipped) sentences with a sad and defeated tone.

Evan was staring at him with sad eyes, face set like he'd already accepted the worst possible outcome, which Jared supposed he probably had.

Jared made his decision. "Yeah. You can come to my house tonight and we could watch some of those bootlegs you still haven't shown me."

Evan's face seemed to catch it faster than his brain, because his lips twitched into a smile a full three seconds before his eyes widened. "Really, you want to be f—"

"Yeah man, for real," Jared confirmed, nodding.

"Wow. Uh, I mean. Yes! Yes. Of course I would, and I'm still so sor—"

"Really Evan, the apology has already been unceremoniously accepted."

"Right. Thank you, Jared."

Jared watched Evan fidget with the hem of his shirt, which would be normal if not for the fact that they were alone. Instead, it meant that Evan still felt awkward and unsure what to physically do with himself. "Do you want like, a hug?" Jared suggested.

Evan's eyebrows shot up, but after a moment of hesitance, he nodded. Even so, he stood stiff as a board.

Jared bit down his pride and moved forward, wrapping his arms over Evan's shoulders. Evan leaned forward into him, quickly wrapping his arms around Jared's torso despite being taller. Jared felt Evan take a large, shaky breath, and pull Jared impossibly closer. With a slight blush, he very slightly rubbed circled into Evan's shoulders through the fabric with his fingertips. Just as Jared remembered, Evan smelled like his mother's shampoo and sweat, but it didn't bother Jared at the moment.

He wasn't sure if anything could actually bother him at that moment.

**Author's Note:**

> When will Evan Hansen get his shit sorted out and his feelings realized? The world may never know.
> 
> Also that thing about the bootleg stuff has foundation. According to Will Roland, Ben Platt actually shows ppl youtube bootlegs of musicals all the time. (Source: Youtube vid of DEH cast playing Never Have I Ever)


End file.
